Urban Atrophy

I loved exploring old and abandoned buildings, parks and vehicles when I was growing up in Michigan. Growing up if I saw a derelict building nearby, I would explore its dusting and dilapidated hallways and rooms if I had the opportunity. I still enjoy meandering among the wrecks of the past during my all too infrequent travels.


There’s something fascinating and almost magnetic about building and vehicles long since dead. It’s almost as if you can see and experience what it must have been like living during the time each were at their heyday. It’s also very sad because you’re witness to so many lost dreams that are returning to the dust.


Urban Atrophy, as photographed and writer by Dan Haga and published by Schiffer Publishing, is a wonderful journey through the many long forgotten factories, hospitals, schools, theaters, churches, military installations and other structures and vehicles scattered over the Mid-Atlantic region of America.


560 photos filled the pages and offer a surreal journey to the abandoned and forgotten dreams and lives of America of the past. Walk down the creepy halls, visit the time-weathered rooms and scrounge amongst the industrial machinery and military installations.


It is a journey that is sure to stick with you as you experience the past through the eyes of the present.